Shiv Sena breaks free

Tired of "BJP bullying", a Hindutva-plank ally resolves to go it alone in the 2019 polls.

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Kiran D. Tare

January 25, 2018

ISSUE DATE: February 5, 2018

UPDATED: February 2, 2018 09:13 IST

Uddhav at the Balasaheb anniversary function

There was jubilation outside Mumbai's Sardar Patel Sports Complex on January 23 as the Shiv Sena's national executive announced its decision to 'go it alone' in both the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly polls in 2019. Although a reiteration of Uddhav Thackeray's November 2o16 announcement, the party made most of the occasion-Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's 90th birth anniversary-in formally articulating its refusal to brook the "BJP's bullying games" any longer.

Analysts say the Sena's resolution marks the culmination of its growing disillusionment with the Devendra Fadnavis government over the mishandling of the farm loan waiver and, more recently, the Dalit protests across Maharashtra. As a senior Sena leader put it, "Uddhav is no longer prepared to carry the badge of Fadnavis's failures on his shoulders."

Party insiders say Uddhav has been under increasing pressure to take a firm position against what the majority of the Sena's rank and file view as the "BJP's attempts to browbeat" its leadership. There's been growing resentment on a range of issues, including BJP leaders speaking of corruption in the Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the party's continual interference in the state industries department (a portfolio held by the Sena).

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, who moved the resolution to discontinue the electoral partnership with the BJP, says, "The Shiv Sena allied with the BJP in the name of Hindutva, and we have been more than patient. But over the past three years, the BJP has been actively using its power to demoralise us."

Besides endorsing the parting of ways, Uddhav also approved the induction of new faces, including a number of non-Mumbaikars, into the Shiv Sena national executive. So while veterans like Manohar Joshi, Sudhir Joshi and Liladhar Dake have been retained, fiery young leaders from outside Mumbai including Eknath Shinde, Chandrakant Khaire, Anand Adsul and Anant Geete have been given a place in the apex body. That apart, Uddhav's son Aditya Thackeray, who has already assumed a central role in the party, was also included in the national executive.

Analysts say the Sena's decision poses no immediate threat to the Fadnavis government. With 123 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, the BJP would not find it too difficult to garner the support of a few independent legislators and some smaller parties to achieve a simple majority, if Uddhav actually decides to pull the plug.

While everyone now expects a significant surge in the aggression and finger-pointing between the two parties, political observers feel that the changed situation may actually make it easy for Fadnavis to push through decisions he has had to hold back on because of the alliance. Like inducting former chief minister and Uddhav's bete noire, Narayan Rane, into the state cabinet.

Meanwhile, Uddhav is unlikely to quit the government any time soon and will use the remaining months until the elections, to reorganise and ready his party. The Sena chief has set himself new electoral targets for 2019-25 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, and at least 150 of the 288 assembly seats.

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